Safety damper preventing heat emanation from abnormal positioned heaters



Dec. 19, 1950 G. J. MOELLER SAFETY DAMPER PREVENTING HEAT EMANATION FROM ABNORMAL POSITIONED HEATERS Filed Sept. 29, 1947 Zhwentor (Ittorneg Patented Dec. 19, 1950 UNITED STATES P TENT OFFICE" SAFETY DAMPER PREVENTING HEAT EMA- NA'ICION FROM ABNORMAL POSITIONED HEATERS George J. Moeller, Altadena, Caliil, assignor to Anthony Oberholtz, Los Angeles, Calif.

applaaialsepamwa, 1947, Serial No. 776.697

6 claims. (01. mes-53) is to provide, in such a heater, meansthat automatically closes the circulating means of .the heater sho'uldthe latter be inadvertently'tipped over to thereby cut ofi the, emanation of heat and obviate ignition of table cloths, doilies and other items upon which the tipped-over heater comes to rest. I

Another object of the invention is to provide a heater with a weighted and universally.

mounted vane or damper that assumes the men tioned closure position upon tipping of the heater on its side.

Another object of the invention is to so form The primary object of the present invention and mount the damper that the same will function effectively regardless of the direction in which the heater is tipped. p p

My invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, econom- ,5

ical of manufacture,relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of;

construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course oithe following description. However, the drawings merely showand the follow ing description merely describes one embodiment V of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the upper portion of a heater provided with a safety damper according to the present invention. V V

Fig. 2 is aside view of the damper as seen fro the leftside of Fig. 1.

The heater that is illustrated comprises an outer housing tube 5, a preferably co nvexly formed grill 6 mounted over the top of said tube, an inner tube 1 within the housing tube and carried by the grill, and a heating element 8 located centrally in the lower portion of the inner tube 1. A support base is provided and the same is generally similar to that disclosed in the mentioned pending application. Heat from the element radiates upwardly in tube 7 and outwardly past grill 6, and air circulating in the annular space betweenthe tubes serves to dissipate such heat that may be conducted through the wall of the inner tube to thereby keep the housing tube relatively cool.

Shouldithe above heater be inadvertently tipped over, the same would come to rest on the edge of I "its base and on the upper edge. of tube Heat would then be directed in a substantially; lateral direction and may ignite such inflammable material in the path of movement of the heat. The. safety damper 9 0i the present inventionis pro-, vided to automatically close oii the tube '1 and prevent suchemanation of hea t upon tipping over of the heater.

The safety damper 9 that is illustrated corn- 1 prises, generally, a vane Ill, a universal mount II for the vane, means I2 weighting the vane to as:

sume a vertical position for all positions of the heater, and a support rod I 3 for the vane from the grill 6.

The vane I0 is a preferably circular member fitting within tube 1 with sufiicient clearance to move universally from a normal, nearly vertical position in the tube, to a transverse position therein. The vane is made of heat-resisting material and is relatively light in weight. It may be v stiffened by embossments I4 and I5, the latter also serving to accommodate the mount I i in closecoupledrelationship. The middle of vane IE! is cut out as at It and is provided with a pair of opposed struck-up ears IT.

The mount II comprises an axially drilled tube I8 into which supportrod it extends A counterbore I9 is formed in the tube to providea shoulder for a washer, 20 on the end of support. rod I3, and the latter is headed-over as at 25,

to retain the washer in place. The tube I3 is freely rotatable on rod I3 and, in the vertical position of the heater, is suspended from the Somewhat spaced from the head 2!, the,

tube I8 is provided with a transverse pin 22 that 7 extends freely through ears l'l. Thus, the vane, is mounted to both swivel about rod I3 and pivot 7 same.

about pin 22.

The weight I2 isplacecl on the vane, at aipoint remote from the mount II, so that the weight over-balances the vane which, at all times, seeks a vertical position. Thus, with the heater vertical, the vane, as shown by the full-line position thereof, is vertical and forms no obstruction to the emanation of heat rising in tube I. Should the heater become tipped toward the left, the vane will simply over-balance and pivot on pin 22 to assume the dot-dash line position shown and thereby close o-fi tube 1.

The weight l2, as best seen in Fig. 2, is placed to one side of the vertical center line of the vane so that the vane is over-balanced with respect to the axis of rod I3. Now, should the heater be tipped in any other directionas to the right, for instance-the off-centered weight will first overbalance the vane to cause the same to swivel on rod l3, and then when said weight has swiveled the vane, the latter will then over-balance or pivot on pin 22 to close off tube 1, as before. It will be seen that the weight, gravitationally seeks a pendant or over-balanced position as the heater is tipped, so assurance is had that the same will swivel to a position from which it can pivot to the closure position. Upon restoration of the heater to an upright condition, the vane will automatically resume the full-line position of Fig. 1.

While I have illustrated and described what I now regard as the preferred embodiment of my invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. I, therefore, do not wish to restrict myself to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but desire to avail myself of all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a heater having a heatemanating tube and a heat passing grill thereabove, a support member extending vertically from the grill into the tube, a horizontally movable swivel on the end of the support member, a transverse pivot on the swivel, a vane substantially centrally carried by the pivot, an oil-center over-balancing weight on the vane below said pivot for positioning said vane vertically in the tube and for efiecting swivelability of the vane upon tipping over of the heater, whereby said vane seeks to retain its vertical disposition during all tipped-over positions of the heater and thereby assumes a transverse position in the tube when the heater is tipped over.

2. A safety damper comprising a vane, a normally horizontal pivot for the vane and located substantially centrally thereof, a weight on the vane below the pivot for normally over-balancing said vane on its pivot to a vertical position, the Weight being ofiset relative to the vertical middle of the vane, a normally vertical tube connected to said pivot, a support rod, said weight tending to over-balance the vane relative to the axis of the support rod, and a swivel connection between the support rod and the tube, whereby the vane and the support rod are relatively universally movable.

3. A safety damper comprising a vane, a normally horizontal pivot for the vane and located substantially centrally thereof, a weight on the vane below the pivot for normally over-balancing said vane on its pivot to a vertical position, a normally vertical tube connected to said pivot, a normally vertical support rod, and a swivel connection between the support rod and the tube, whereby the vane and the support rod are relatively universally movable, said weight being 10- 4 cated on the vane to one side of the vertical center thereof to gravitationally over-balance the vane to cause swiveling movement between the support rod and the vane and tube when the support rod is moved from its normally vertical position.

4. A safety damper for an electric heater comprising a normally vertically disposed heatemanating tube, a vane disposed within said tube, a universal mount supported by the heater and connected substantially centrally to said vane, said mount comprising a swivel axial relative to the tube and a pivot transverse to the tube, a weight spaced from the mount and afiixed to the vane to over-balance said vane on its pivot at all times disposing said vane in a substantially vertical position, said weight being off-center with respect to the vertical center of the vane to swivel the vane to a position enabling pivotal movement thereof when the heater is tipped over from its normal erect position.

5. The combination with a heater having a normally vertically disposed heat-emanating tube, of a safety damper disposed within said tube and adapted to automatically close said tube upon tipping over of the heater regardless of the direction the same is tipped, a universal mount supported by the heater and comprising both a normally vertical swivel and a normally horizontal pivot, the pivot being connected substantially centrally to the damper, and a weight on the damper below the horizontal pivot and offset relative to the normal vertical center of the damper, said weight at all time over-balancing the Vane to a vertical position on its horizontal pivot and tending to over-balance the weight on its swivel upon tipping over of the heater and of the normally vertical swivel.

6. In combination, a heater having a normally vertical heat-emanating tube and a heat-passing grill thereabove, a support member extending vertically from the grill into the tube, a vertically disposed horizontally movable swivel on the end of the support member, a transverse horizontal pivot on the swivel, a vane substantially centrally carried by the pivot, an over-balancing weight on the vane below the pivot and ofiset with respect to the vertical center of the swivel to normally over-balance the vane to a vertical heat-passing position in said tube, said swivel and pivot constituting a universal mount for the vane that is automatically operative, upon tipping over of the heater to a substantially horizontal position of the tube thereof, to cause the offset weight to first swing the vane on the swivel and then over-balance the same on the pivot to retain the mentioned vertical disposition of the vane which, thereby, assumes a transverse heatarresting position in said horizontally disposed tube.

GEORGE J. MOELLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 80,927 Danney Aug. 11, 1868 189,668 Swartz Apr. 17, 1877 

